Sunday Short Sets Celebrating the 2023 Birthday of Bobby Vee, Johnny Horton, the Reverend Gary Davis, and Bill Buchanan
by Robert Wilkinson
Finishing our musical birthday weekend, today we laugh, bop, swing, and get “taken to church” celebrating the birthdays of 3 talented musicians and a sampling legend with short sets!
Bobby Vee (born Robert Thomas Velline, April 30, 1943 – October 24, 2016) originally hit the road as a Buddy Holly replacement. He’s best known for his pop work in the early 60s before the British Invasion. Here are a few!
This one was huge, going all the way to #1 in 1961! "Take Good Care of my Baby,"
He also gave us the jazzy #3 hit from 1962 "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes," and the soft #3 1967 ballad to someone way too young, "Come Back When You Grow Up."
Here’s the very dramatic late 1961 #2 hit "Run To Him," and we’ll close with his first hit which went to #6 in 1960, where you can hear his Buddy Holly styled vocals, "Rubber Ball."
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It’s also the birthday of the Reverend Gary Davis (April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972). From wiki, he was “a blues and gospel singer and guitarist, who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. His fingerpicking guitar style influenced many other artists. His students include Stefan Grossman, David Bromberg, Steve Katz, Roy Book Binder, Larry Johnson, Nick Katzman, Dave Van Ronk, Rory Block, Ernie Hawkins, Larry Campbell, Bob Weir, Woody Mann, and Tom Winslow.[2] He influenced Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Wizz Jones, Jorma Kaukonen, Keb' Mo', Ollabelle, Resurrection Band, and John Sebastian…”
Recorded June 1967, here’s 25 minutes of classic live video footage! Reverend Gary Davis – Live in 1967
Here’s over 7 minutes of a live performance of “Glory Halleloo”
Here’s yet another early live gem titled “If I Had My Way”
From way back in his early days in 1935, “You Got To Go Down”
Here’s 11+ minutes of his studio version of “Hesitation Blues” and another classic “Baby Let Me Lay it On You”
Here’s 3 more studio gems!
We’ll close with a number from 1964, the studio version of “Death Don’t Have No Mercy”
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Now for some humor. Bill Buchanan (April 30, 1930 - August 1, 1996) wrote some very weird stuff with Dickie Goodman (April 19, 1934 – November 6, 1989), giving us the prototypes of clips called “mashups” (also called a “break-in”). These creations featured segments of popular songs intertwined with spoken "news" commentary to tell the story of a visit from a flying saucer. So really this is the beginning of “sampling.” Their first hit uses clips from 18 different songs, each of which was a top 20 hit in 1955 or 1956. This record went all the way to #3 on the charts in 1956. For your enjoyment, here’s “The Flying Saucer – Parts 1 & 2.”
They followed that with this classic that features about 20 of the biggest of the big at the time, "On Trial." (Definitely worth a couple of minutes of your time!)
Here are more mashups! From 1957, "Santa and the Satellite - Parts 1 & 2," from 1958, "The Flying Saucer Goes West" and from 1959, "Flying Saucer the Third."
He went on to do other stuff that was as weird as what he and Dickie had put together! First, from 1958, “The Thing”
Also from 1958, in June he wrote this obvious answer to “Tequila” (written in January) done by Eddie Platt and his Orchestra titled “Vodka,” with this as the flip side, “Cha-Hua-Hua.”
He wrote and produced this tune that went to #15 in early 1962 for Bobby Vee! “Please Don’t Ask About Barbara.”
Written in 1962 by the great Michael Z. Gordon (“Out of Limits”), Bill did this strange little Halloween ditty that mimics “The Monster Mash” called “Night Before Halloween.”
We’ll close with this 1959 obscurity produced by Bill performed by the Three Stooges! “We’re Coming to Your House” and “We’re Cutting A Record.”
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We’ll close today’s brief tribute with a celebration of the life and music of the legendary Johnny Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960). From wiki, Johnny Horton “was an American country music and rockabilly singer. Rising to fame slowly over the course of the 1950s, Horton earned great fame in 1959 performing historical ballads, beginning with the song "The Battle of New Orleans" (written by Jimmy Driftwood), which was awarded the 1960 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. The song was awarded the Grammy Hall of Fame Award and in 2001 ranked No. 333 of the Recording Industry Association of America's "Songs of the Century". His first hit, a number 1 song in 1959, was "When It's Springtime in Alaska (It's Forty Below)". During 1960, Horton had two other successes with "Sink the Bismarck" and "North to Alaska" for John Wayne's movie, North to Alaska. Horton died in November 1960 at the peak of his fame in an automobile accident, less than two years after his breakthrough. Horton is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.”
Live on the Ed Sullivan Show, here’s Johnny live giving us the Jimmy Driftwood classic “The Ballad of New Orleans”
Here’s another very strange lip-synched version of “The Ballad of New Orleans”
Here’s Jimmy Driftwood live giving it up! “The Ballad of New Orleans”
This one's a score! It's 55 minutes of very rare live footage of Johnny! Johnny Horton In Concert ~ The Incredibly Rare Live Performances
Here’s his first hit which went all the way to #1 in 1959! “When It’s Springtime In Alaska”
On the same theme, his studio version of another big one! “North to Alaska”
Here’s a great live performance of “North to Alaska”
Here’s his first recording from January 1956, backed by Bill Black, Grady Martin, and Harold Bradley! “Honky Tonk Man”
The flip side was a cheerful classic country offer captured live in 1959 at Eddy Arnold’s Jubilee USA show! “I’m Ready If You’re Willin’” (Tommy Tomlinson’s lead licks smoke for 1960!)
He did this lip synched performance for Dick Clark’s Beechnut Show in April 1960 of the very jingoistic “Sink The Bismark.” Here’s the studio version. Very rousing! “Sink The Bismark.”
Johnny Horton doing his patriotic best to extol the virtues of those who took up arms against the Union. “Johnny Reb”
Here’s the studio version of his beautiful ballad “Whispering Pines.”
We’ll close this brief tribute with a couple from his performance at the Louisiana Hayride! Here’s “Whispering Pines” and his signature hit "The Battle of New Orleans."
For the encore, I found this clip with the entire show! Here’s Johnny Horton at the Louisiana Hayride
For the second encore, I found this rare demo of “Shake, Rattle, and Roll.”
And if you still more, here's Johnny Horton's Greatest Hits
© Copyright 2023 Robert Wilkinson
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